Community-based Aboriginal Early Childhood Education In Canada—An Ecological Systems Perspective

Early education for Aboriginal children is of vital importance to lay a solid foundation for their future achievement.Young Aboriginal children,the most vulnerable group in the Canadian population,received culturally insensitive and poorly arranged education in history.Since the failure of residential schools,the Canadian government and Aboriginal people have explored different ways to improve Aboriginal early childhood education.This thesis aims at investigating the most feasible approach to Aboriginal early childhood education by comparing three historical practices.Both the provincially-operated and the Aboriginal-empowered approaches were proven to be unsuccessful.The positive outcomes of children’s performance demonstrated that programs initiated by the federal government and implemented by the Aboriginal community can best satisfy Aboriginal children’s needs and help reconstruct Aboriginal identity.Using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model as the theoretical framework,this thesis will explore why and how the community-based Aboriginal early childhood education program works best.Research reveals that the community plays an important role in children’s development.With the Aboriginal children as the center of education,it fully leverages its strengths and helps to foster active interactions between Aboriginal children and each ecological system.The wide application of the community-based approach will also benefit the Aboriginal groups as a whole and promote the Canadian reconciliation process.